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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
THE PLAY, continued
Language is the greatest expression of Shakespeare's genius, a leading reason why his works are still read and enjoyed nearly four centuries after they were written. At the same time Shakespeare's language can be intimidating. When you pick up a Shakespearean play, the first thing you will notice is that the characters speak poetry, not prose. Your immediate reaction may be that this is artificial and stilted. No human being talks the way Shakespeare's characters do. If you feel that way, you are absolutely right. The poetry in Shakespeare's plays was not meant to be realistic. Spoken poetry is an artistic convention- just like singing in opera, or surreal editing in a rock video. Just as you can appreciate the succession of images in a video without caring about whether they are realistic, you can enjoy the beautiful phrases, apt images and surprising insights in Shakespeare without bothering to worry whether any real-life individual would think to say such things spontaneously. It is impossible to explain in a few brief paragraphs exactly why Shakespeare's use of language is so special. However, a few examples may sharpen your appreciation of his unique style. Any writer might observe that young aristocrats are like proud ships. Shakespeare would never have been content with such a flat, unilluminating comparison. In Act II, Scene VI, he has Gratiano say: How like a younger or a prodigal Few writers can carry a simile even this far without falling prey to muddled thinking, yet this is only one of several passages in which Shakespeare makes extended comparisons between the young gentlemen of Venice and their merchant ships. Fewer writers still can use stylized, self-consciously poetic imagery without sounding pompous. Shakespeare's images are not merely pretty; they are almost always logical and apt. Furthermore, Shakespeare had an unerring sense of timing, a necessary quality in a playwright. He knew when to change pace for dramatic effect. Consider, for example, Bassanio's speech in Act I, Scene I, lines 123-138. Bassanio uses many high-sounding words to describe his problem. When it comes down to the final line of his speech, though, he manages to shift gears and sum up the situation in words of one syllable- "How to get clear of all the debts I owe." The audience, having been carried along on Bassanio's lofty rhetoric, is suddenly let down to earth with a thud. One of the particular strengths of The Merchant of Venice is that the language used by the various characters is appropriate to their roles in the drama. Shylock's speech is gruff and straightforward. The Prince of Morocco's is as dazzling as his personality. Salerio, Solanio, and Gratiano are clever: in some of their speeches Shakespeare seems to be giving a virtuoso performance. If he crosses the line between exuberance and vulgarity, it's only to reinforce their characterizations. Portia's language is perhaps the most unexpected in the play and goes far to show why audiences have found her such a memorable character. Although she is the romantic heroine, Portia's speech tends to be witty and rigorously logical. She often uses a vocabulary that belongs to the world of financial transactions- words which draw our attention to the play's comparison of love and wealth, of money lent for interest and the emotional investments of marriage and friendship. Speaking of the "lott'ry of my destiny" (Act II, scene i, line 15), Portia goes on to note that her late father "hedged" his bet somewhat by the terms of his eccentric will. Suddenly, we realize that Portia is not referring to herself as a player in the lottery of destiny, but as the prize, waiting to be won. Like most Shakespearean plays, The Merchant of Venice boasts many quotable lines- phrases such as "love is blind"- which you have probably read and even used many times without ever realizing where they came from. As you become more familiar with Shakespeare's works you will come to realize that such phrases are never just quotable nuggets, epigrams which demonstrate the author's clever "way with words." Shakespeare is a great dramatic poet because he knew how to use his best lines in context, to deepen our understanding of his characters and themes and to further the action of the play. ELIZABETHAN ENGLISHAll languages change. Differences in pronunciation and word choice are apparent even between parents and their children. If language differences can appear in one generation, it is only to be expected that the English used by Shakespeare four hundred years ago will diverge markedly from the English that is used today. The following information on Shakespeare's language will help a modern reader to a fuller understanding of The Merchant of Venice. MOBILITY OF WORD CLASSES Adjectives, nouns, and verbs were less rigidly confined to particular classes in Shakespeare's day. Adjectives were frequently used adverbially: You grow exceeding strange nouns could be used as adjectives, as in: And other of such vinegar aspect and: By the fool multitude Nouns could also occur as verbs. In Act I, Scene III, line 170, for example, purse is used to mean "put in my purse": And I will go and purse the ducats straight. And verbs could be used as nouns. In Act II, Scene IX, line 90, commends is used where a modern speaker would use "commendations": From whom he bringeth sensible regreets, CHANGES IN WORD MEANING The meanings of words undergo changes, a process that can be illustrated by the fact that shuttle has extended its meaning from a "device used in weaving" to a "space vehicle." Many of the words in Shakespeare still exist today but their meanings have changed. The change may be small, as in the case of faithless (II, iv, 37) meaning "unbelieving," or more fundamental, so that sentences (I, ii, 10) meant "maxims or proverbs," very (II, ii, 105) meant "true," naughty (III, ii, 18) was equivalent to "wicked," and excrement (III, ii, 87) meant anything that grew out, including one's hair. VOCABULARY LOSS Words not only change their meanings, but are frequently discarded from the language. In the past, leman meant "sweetheart" and sooth meant "truth." The following words used in The Merchant of Venice are no longer common in English but their meanings can usually be gauged from the contexts in which they occur.
VERBS Shakespearean verb forms differ from modern usage in three main ways:
PRONOUNS Shakespeare and his contemporaries had one extra pronoun, thou, which could be used in addressing a person who was one's equal or social inferior. You was obligatory if more than one person was addressed: Lorenzo and Salerio, welcome hither, but it could also be used to indicate respect. All the characters, for example, address the Duke of Venice as "you" in Act IV, Scene I: Your grace hath ta'en great pains. Frequently, a person in power uses thou to a child or a subordinate but is addressed you in return. Antonio, for example, uses thou to Shylock but receives you in response in Act I, Scene III: Antonio: I am as like to call thee so again, To switch from you to thou could indicate a loss of respect. This happens in Act IV, Scene I when Portia realizes that Shylock will not change his mind about the bond: I pray you let me look upon the bond. One further pronominal usage warrants a comment. Animate and inanimate third person pronouns were sometimes interchangeable. Who is used for "which" in: The first, of gold, who this inscription bears and his occurs instead of "its" in: There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st PREPOSITIONS Prepositions were less standardized in Elizabethan English than they are today and so we find several uses in The Merchant of Venice that would have to be modified in contemporary speech. These include: by for "about": How say you by the French lord by for "for" in: What many men desire,- that "many" may be meant on for "against" in: And be my vantage to exclaim on you in for "on" in: ...In such a night as this and of for "from" in: No woman had it, but a civil doctor, MULTIPLE NEGATION Contemporary English requires only one negative per statement and regards such utterances as "I haven't none" as nonstandard. Shakespeare often uses two or more negatives for emphasis, as when Portia asks: ...is it not hard Nerissa, that I cannot choose one, or the Prince of Morocco insists "Nor will not" (II, i, 43) or Lorenzo claims: The man that hath no music in himself, SOURCESShakespeare borrowed both of the basic plot ideas for The Merchant of Venice from other sources. The story of the Christian merchant who risks a pound of his own flesh to secure a loan from a Jewish moneylender comes from an Italian novella entitled Il Pecorone (The Dunce) by Giovanni Fiorentino. In this version of the tale there is also a beautiful lady of "Belmonte," but she has only one suitor, Giannetto, who tries three times to win her hand. (All Giannetto has to do to win the lady's hand in marriage is to possess her sexually; what he does not know on his first two visits to her is that the wine she serves at dinner is heavily laced with a sleeping potion!) In the meantime, Giannetto's godfather, Ansaldo, has borrowed heavily from a Jewish moneylender to finance Giannetto's adventures. As in The Merchant of Venice, the lady of "Belmonte" eventually disguises herself as a lawyer to save her husband's benefactor from having to pay his pound of flesh. Even the sub-plot of the ring appears in this source; however, the sub-plots involving the romances of Gratiano and Nerissa, and Lorenzo and Jessica do not occur. The story of the three caskets appears in a Greek romance of A.D. 800 called Barlaam and Josophat, and there are probably still-earlier folklore versions. We also find the three-caskets theme in a fourteenth- century story collection called the Gesta Romanorum which first appeared in an English translation in 1577. In the Gesta Romanorum version of this tale, the mottos inscribed on the caskets are rather similar to those used by Shakespeare; however, it is the would-be bride who is forced to choose among the three caskets in order to prove that she is worthy of marrying the son of the King of Rome. Shakespeare may not even have been the first writer to combine these two plots in a single work. This may have been done previously in a play called The Jew. Since the manuscript of The Jew no longer exists, we have no way of knowing how much, if any, of the dramatic structure of The Merchant of Venice was borrowed from this earlier drama. Some scholars have argued that the interweaving of the two plots is so skillful that it could only have been accomplished by a master dramatist, and therefore must be original with Shakespeare. Others are more willing to concede that the basic plot structure of The Merchant of Venice may have been borrowed by Shakespeare from one of his predecessors. Either way, it is the eloquent use of both plot ideas to illuminate the larger theme of love as a form of
wealth which raises the play to the level of a masterpiece- surely a Shakespeare original.
One of the most famous theaters of all time is the Globe Theatre. It was one of several Shakespeare
worked in during his career and many of the greatest plays of English literature were performed there.
Built in 1599 for L600 just across the River Thames from London, it burned down in 1613 when a spark
from a cannon in a battle scene in Shakespeare's Henry VIII set fire to the thatched roof. The theater was
quickly rebuilt and it survived until 1644. No one knows exactly what the Globe looked like but some
scholarly detective work has given us a fairly good idea. The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington,
D.C., has a full-scale re-creation of the Globe.
When it was built, the Globe was the latest thing in theater design. It was a three-story octagon, with
covered galleries surrounding an open yard some 50 feet across. Three sides of the octagon were devoted
to the stage and backstage areas. The main stage was a raised platform that jutted into the center of the
yard or pit. Behind the stage was the tiring house- the backstage area where the actors dressed and waited
for their cues. It was flanked by two doors and contained an inner stage with a curtain used when the
script called for a scene to be discovered. (Some scholars think the inner stage was actually a tent or
pavilion that could be moved about the stage.) Above the inner stage was the upper stage, a curtained
balcony that could serve as the battlements in Hamlet or for the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet. Most
of the action of the play took place on the main and upper stages.
The third story held the musicians' gallery and machinery for sound effects and pyrotechnics. Above
all was a turret from which a flag was flown to announce, "Performance today." A roof (the
shadow) covered much of the stage and not only protected the players from sudden showers but also
contained machinery needed for some special effects. More machinery was under the stage, where several
trap doors permitted the sudden appearance in a play of ghosts and allowed actors to leap into rivers or
graves, as the script required.
For a penny (a day's wages for an apprentice), you could stand with the "groundlings" in
the yard to watch the play; another penny would buy you a seat in the upper galleries, and a third would
get you a cushioned seat in the lower gallery- the best seats in the house. The audience would be a mixed
crowd- sedate scholars, gallant courtiers, and respectable merchants and their families in the galleries;
rowdy apprentices and young men looking for excitement in the yard; and pickpockets and prostitutes
taking advantage of the crowds to ply their trades. And crowds there would be- the Globe could probably
hold 2000 to 3000 people, and even an ordinary performance would attract a crowd of 1200.
The play you came to see would be performed in broad daylight during the warmer months. In colder
weather, Shakespeare's troupe appeared indoors at Court or in one of London's private theaters. There was
no scenery as we know it but there are indications that the Elizabethans used simple set pieces such as
trees, bowers, or battle tents to indicate location. Any props needed were readied in the tiring house by
the book keeper (we'd call him the stage manager) and carried on and off by actors. If time or location
were important, the characters usually said something about it. Trumpet flourishes told the audience an
important character was about to enter, rather like a modern spotlight, and a scene ended when all the
characters left the stage. (Bodies of dead characters were carried off stage.) Little attention was paid to
historical accuracy in plays such as Julius Caesar or Macbeth and actors wore contemporary clothing. One
major difference from the modern theater was that all female parts were played by young boys;
Elizabethan custom did not permit women to act.
If the scenery was minimal, the performance made up for it in costumes and spectacle. English actors
were famous throughout Europe for their skill as dancers, and some performances ended with a dance (or
jig). Blood, in the form of animal blood or red paint, was lavished about in the tragedies; ghosts made
sudden appearances amid swirling fog; thunder was simulated by rolling a cannon ball along the wooden
floor of the turret or by rattling a metal sheet. The costumes were gorgeous- and expensive! One
"robe of estate" alone cost L19, a year's wages for a skilled workman of the time. But the
costumes were a large part of the spectacle that the audience came to see, and they had to look impressive
in broad daylight, with the audience right up close.
You've learned some of the conventions of the Globe Theatre, a theater much simpler than many of
ours but nevertheless offering Shakespeare a wide range of possibilities for staging his plays. Now let's
see how specific parts of The Merchant of Venice might have been presented at the Globe.
The absence of scenery made the stage at the Globe very flexible. Scenes could be shifted from place
to place slowing down the action. You can get a good idea of how this might have worked out if you look
at the second act of The Merchant of Venice. This act has nine different scenes. If a curtain had to be
lowered and scenery moved for each scene it would take many hours to perform, and the audience would
have been a little restless. But since there were no curtains or scenery, the action could speed right along.
Imagine how it might have been performed:
The first scene, in Portia's house, could be set on the inner stage. For the second scene, on the street,
the action moves out to the main stage. Then up to the balcony for Scene III in Shylock's house. Back to
the main stage for the street setting of the next three scenes- one of the doors would represent Shylock's
house in Scene VI, and Jessica would look out the window above it before she came down to elope with
Lorenzo. Scene VII, back in Portia's house, could use the inner stage, then back onto the main stage for a
street in Venice in Scene VIII, and finally a return to the inner stage, Portia's house, in Scene IX.
But don't assume that the main stage is limited to outdoor scenes. It would be needed as well for any
indoor scene with more than a few characters. For example, in Act III, Scene II, the action might begin in
the inner stage for the casket-choosing part of the scene, but would probably have to spill out onto the
main stage to provide room for everyone when Lorenzo and Jessica arrive. Even so, once those characters
have walked off, the neutral stage can become a street again for the next scene.
© Copyright 1985 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc.
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